The Star Wars franchise has always been known for jumping around its timeline. After the release of 2019’s Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, every new story in the canon has taken place before the end of the Skywalker Saga. Following The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, and Obi-Wan Kenobi, Lucasfilm has once again gone back in time with the Disney+ prequel series Andor. There was no way for Andor to not be a prequel as its titular character died in the film that he was introduced.
Cassian Andor made his debut in 2016 with Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, which was the first live-action spinoff film in the franchise. However, Cassian was written to be one of the Rebel spies already mentioned in the opening crawl of Star Wars: A New Hope (1977). A determined captain and intelligence officer in the Alliance, Andor successfully stole the Death Star plans at the cost of his own life. Lucasfilm has decided to revisit the character at different points in his life before he took on the dangerous mission. Here’s where the Andor series takes place in the Star Wars timeline.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
Season One: Five Years Before A New Hope
Lucasfilm Ltd.
Right before the beginning of Star Wars: A New Hope, Cassian perished when the Death Star fired its superlaser at Scarif. Lucasfilm announced in 2020 that the beginning of Andor had been set five years before the events of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. This has placed Andor in the year referred to as “5 BBY” (five years before the “0 BBY” time period of Rogue One and A New Hope). For reference, Andor takes place in the same year as the animated series Star Wars Rebels,and four years after the first season of Obi-Wan Kenobi. This also has indicated that Andor precedes the events of The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett by 14 years.
During this time, the Rebel Alliance had not been officially formed. Similar to what was seen in Solo: A Star Wars Story, the Galactic Empire ruled the galaxy with an iron fist. Speaking to Vanity Fair, showrunner Tony Gilroy referred to Cassian as being “really revolution-averse, and cynical, and lost, and kind of a mess.” The first season of Andor has marked a beginning in Cassian’s path towards sacrificing himself to save the galaxy. According to Star Wars: Rogue One: The Ultimate Visual Guide, Jyn Erso was abandoned by Saw Gerrera during the same year.
Season Two: Covers the Four Years Before A New Hope
Several characters who appeared in Rogue One, including Mon Mothma, have been confirmed for the series. Significantly, the setting of Andor has allowed for many exciting possible appearances and cameos. The door has been left open for characters such as Cal Kestis, Kanan Jarrus, Ahsoka Tano, Grand Admiral Thrawn, and even Obi-Wan Kenobi. While the show has been titled Andor, it has appeared to be more about the rise of the Rebel Alliance.
The scale of the show is so huge. Directors work in blocks of three episodes, so we did four blocks [in Season 1] of three episode each. [For Season 2] we looked and said, “Wow, it’d be really interesting if we come back, and we use each block to represent a year. We’ll move a year closer with each block…” from a narrative point of view, it’s really exciting to be able to work on something where you do a Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, and then jump a year.
Andor Finale Leads Directly into Rogue One
When Rogue One first released in 2016, fans were impressed by how the film led directly into A New Hope. The fans welcomed the interconnectivity of various films and television series in the Star Wars franchise. They will be happy to know that has continued with Andor. It was designed as a prequel to a prequel, eventually leaving its viewers right on the doorstep of Rogue One. Despite all of Rogue One’s strengths, the film did not have the time to fully explore all its characters. Andor has presented an incredible opportunity to explore one of the more morally gray characters in the Star Wars universe.
